Once upon a time, software features that today seem quite commonplace and should be the default were a great innovation. For example, the features of Microsoft Excel 4.0, which can be seen in this 1992 advertisement.
Excel 4.0 was part of Microsoft Office 2.5, 3.0, and 4.0 and worked with Windows 3.1 / 95 / 98 and Windows NT 3.5/4.0.